Middleton Woman Sentenced To Prison For Aggravated DUI

Bryan Taylor, Canyon County Prosecutor, announced that Arlene M. Schmidt, age 62, of Middleton, was sentenced on April 9 by the Honorable Thomas W. Whitney for the felony crime of Aggravated Driving Under the Influence.

Arlene M. Schmidt

Judge Whitney sentenced Schmidt to 3 years fixed, followed by 8 years indeterminate, for a total unified sentence of 11 years in prison. Judge Whitney also ordered Schmidt’s driver’s license to be suspended for a period of 5 years following her release from prison. Schmidt was also ordered to pay a $2,500 fine along with court costs.

Schmidt was arrested in October 2017 after causing a crash that left two people with significant injuries while she was driving under the influence of alcohol. According to police, Schmidt was traveling on Highway 44 in Middleton when she abruptly turned in front of a truck causing a head-on collision. Both the driver of the truck and his 10-year-old daughter sustained injuries that required hospital treatment as a result of the crash. The driver suffered a broken nose and facial lacerations while his daughter suffered a broken jaw. When officers arrived on scene, they noticed that Schmidt showed signs of alcohol impairment such as slurred speech and bloodshot eyes. A subsequent breathalyzer test showed that her blood alcohol level was .200, more than twice the legal limit. At the time of the crash, Schmidt was on probation for a 2016 DUI conviction and as a condition of her probation she should have been driving a vehicle equipped with an interlock device.

“Ms. Schmidt showed she has no regard for the laws of this state by skirting her probation and driving drunk in a car that she had no business being behind the wheel of, then crashing the car into an innocent family,” said Prosecutor Bryan Taylor. “This was a serious crime that deserves severe punishment. I’m thankful she is headed to prison for the protection of society.”